Dorado development proposal released for public comment

The Santos Ltd.-Carnarvon Petroleum Ltd. Dorado development proposal in the Bedout subbasin offshore Western Australia has been released for public comment.

The oil and gas discovery extends across Santos-operated permits WA-437-P and WA-438-P about 140 km north of Port Hedland.

The proposal consists of an initial phase of liquids production with future nearby tie-backs along with gas reinjection to optimize liquids recovery prior to a second phase of gas production and export.

Dorado will be designed to handle 100,000 b/d of liquids with a gas reinjection capacity of 235 MMcfd over a period of 20 years.

Development will comprise a 16-slot wellhead platform with an initial 10 wells (production and reinjection wells); a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel; subsea flowlines between the platform and FPSO; and future potential tie-backs.

Potential tie-back prospects have not yet been appraised, but the project proposal indicates they would be included to augment oil production.

A final investment decision is expected in mid-2022 with platform installation in 2023, development drilling in 2024, FPSO hook-up and commissioning in 2025, and production beginning in 2026.

Dorado was discovered in July 2018.